Tuesday’s with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson

The Nightline interview has made Morrie a celebrity; as they talk, the phone rings frequently. Morrie asks Albom if he’s sharing his life with someone, if he’s giving to his community, and if he’s at peace. Albom realizes he has sidelined his college ideals: “I traded lots of dreams for a bigger paycheck, and I never even realized I was doing it” (51).

Albom watches Morrie struggle pathetically to eat, yet visiting with his old mentor feels “magically serene.” Morrie calmly informs Albom that he has four or five months to live, and that his ALS finally will cause him to die of suffocation. They decide to meet again soon.

Back at college, Albom often would stay late after Morrie’s classes and they would discuss great books and ideas. Morrie asserts that “Life is a series of pulls back and forth” or a “tension of opposites (57), in which we are tugged by contradictory impulses. Albom asks which of these will win, and Morrie answers, “Love always wins” (57). 

Albom travels to England to cover the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Tabloid journals are for sale there, with blaring headlines about celebrities and the latest gossip. Albom, too, is star-obsessed, but now he sees that